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I always say the 1 of the most important people in a restoration business is whoever's answering the phone. Because when that first call comes in, there's kind of 2 different ways you can look at this. The first 1 is, you know, what's that brand promise? You know, most homeowners have never had a law never had a loss in their life. They've never had water flowing out their front door.
Speaker 1:They don't know what to do. They're in the state of panic. They're in the state of shock. And if they're looking you up on Google or if they're going through and just finding someone to come out, they want they're looking for reassurance. They wanna know, did I call the right person?
Speaker 1:Am I gonna have to roll through the phone book and go through 15 others before I get 1 I like? But, really, it's you know, when there is a fire or, you know, a biohazard cleanup or water loss, that first person to answer the phone sets the tone for your company's kinda your values, your visions, your culture. This is how we handle losses. It kinda sets the tone because, realistically, that claim starts from the minute that first phone call comes in. It's not when you get on-site.
Speaker 1:It's not it's that first interaction that people will look at and say, yo. Thank goodness I actually called the right people. Just in a simple instead of, you know, thanks for calling x XYZ Restoration. Please state your name, address, location. What can I help with?
Speaker 1:Compared to, you know, thanks for giving us a call. How can I help you today? I I have water running out my front door. I don't know what to do. Being able to kind of put yourself as the authority, but be able to show comp I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1:That's terrible. You know? When did this happen? How is this happening? You know?
Speaker 1:How can I assist you? This is some you know, we offer 24 hour mitigation services. I can have my crews on the way. Let I need to get some information from you, but let me see if I can help you in the meantime. Just Almost making that personal connection.
Speaker 1:Most people in restoration deal with this every single day. It becomes Right. Normal. Most people, this is not a normal thing. So helping kind of, you know, set that vision and values of, this is what we do.
Speaker 1:This is how we help our clients, And it really helps kinda give that emotional side because I've worked at restoration companies where person answering the phone sounded just as bland as possible. You know? Hi. Let me put you on hold. What can I do for you?
Speaker 1:Let me you know? And it that was 1 of the first things we would go in and drain or some successful companies I worked at. We had a staff of people that that's what they did. They had that tone of voice when they answered phone. You know, we're here to help.
Speaker 1:Thank you for calling us. How can I help you today? Like, little things just even in your tone can kinda put someone at ease. You know? Everyone gets spam calls all the time when she hi.
Speaker 1:This is you're just like, oh, I'm not
Speaker 2:answering. And it's Right.
Speaker 1:We're in a weird world to where when you do make that call, you want some customer service aspect, but also you're calling for a reason. Most people don't call restoration companies. Just say, hi. There's a reason why they're calling, and how do you help move that along? But, also, you know, the other approach to it is the business aspect of it.
Speaker 1:You know, you need to convert those leads, you know, especially in our state of the industry report we did with C&R Magazine. I actually went and found 1 of the pages for you, and it shows that 45% of restoration firms are preferring to not do TPA work or get out of TPA work.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Well, that means you know, 1 of the perks to TPA work is, you know, depending which program and things of that nature, it's steady inflow. You don't have to sell. There's no marketing. They're just sending you leads. Well, if you get out of that, now every single call that comes in is a sales call.
Speaker 1:How are you converting those leads? How are you going through and making sure you get relative information? Are you setting up your customer for success? And really kind of helping make sure that conversion rate turns into sales. Because without those guaranteed leads coming in, who knows how many jobs you might have in a week?
Speaker 1:It really kind of turns that customer service and sales aspect on because there's no guarantee that they may even find an agreement when you come out or even have you wanna do the work. But, you know, really setting a precedence from that first phone call and really giving that kind of process of here's the information we need to collect. Here's the way we want you to approach certain tones. Is this a mold job that's been going on for 3 weeks? Well, that's not an emergency.
Speaker 1:Is this something to where, you know, we have a chemical spill, you know, a suicide? Something happens that requires immediate assistance, but also Right. There's a delicate way of going about it. And those are kind of those little tweaks that you're seeing that are separating certain restoration companies from other and helping some kind of you know, really drive through. Our new book, Winning with Workers, just got released today, actually.
Speaker 1:And Congratulations. Thank you. And, actually, 1 of the case studies in here, connecting, connecting work to meaning, This is a case study that we did with, Seaside Restoration. Mhmm. We had them on our podcast, and I was able to talk with them a handful of times.
Speaker 1:And, you know, it's that simple adage of treat every loss like it's your grandmother's house. You know? That's the way they approach every loss, and they have tremendous reviews online. They really have cemented themselves in their community because they treat every loss like that, like it's their grandmother calling. But, also, they don't do TPA work.
Speaker 1:They don't do certain aspects. They are fully generated leads, but it's all word-of-mouth because of the way they treat every single lead coming in. And it's really something in today's day and age where customer service has kinda disappeared, unfortunately, and just doing those simple steps of, you know, establishing, this is when we're coming out. Here's our schedule. Here's our information if you have questions.
Speaker 1:You know, being able to really train that homeowner and get things on the right foot from the start, it just makes the whole process so much easier because, you know, as someone that used to come out on these calls, if you had a, you know, a confrontation with fence, it just it slows down the process. It makes it harder to move through and help take care of the homeowner when you're It makes it harder to move through and help take care of the homeowner when you're spending time reexplaining what we're doing, why we're here. No. We're not trying to, you know, sign some crazy agreement or anything like that. We're here to help mitigate the damages and get you back to pre loss conditions.
Speaker 1:But it really kind of it it all starts with that first call. And I can't stress how important having that good process and getting that in your people's hands to understand that as well.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Well, and I think too there's so much of a common misconception that, well, my job is, you know, speaking to the person answering the call. My job is to answer the call, get the information, and get that to the salesperson who at that point, like, that project manager, sales, business development, what have you, it's their job to really, like, win the customer over for our business. But I know that when I call a company, whether it's for restoration or not, that first person who answers the phone, if I don't feel like they want my business or they care about my business, I'm probably gonna go find someplace else. And and I think it's so important to recognize that those first couple minutes you have with that customer, that might be the only time that they interact with your company.
Speaker 2:Kind of call scripts have gotten kind of a bad rap over the years. You know, we think of service centers. We think of those like spam calls that you already spoke to. A a script doesn't have to feel impersonal. You know, having that clear process laid out can actually make a world of a difference and allow you to add that empathy and that care and that concern and that solid concrete good experience for that first interaction to to make sure you've got a customer for life.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And you hit it right on the head. It's, you know, being able to have that clear, concise vision of, you know, here's what we do, how we do it, but Mhmm. Being able to connect with on a human side with somebody. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:You know, being able to connect with them. And, actually, our first book we did, The 5 Star Restore, we went through Google and broke down over a 1, 000 review 1 star reviews on restoration companies. No shocker. Most of those came back to lack of communication.
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:And it's how do you pre set that precedent from day 1? This is how we communicate. This is what we're doing. Give that visibility to where it's not, okay. Well, truck's on the way.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:I have no idea what that means. You know, take if it means taking those extra couple minutes and walking someone through an additional step or Yeah. You know, even just connecting with, are you okay? Do you guys need some water? Do we need, you know, little things?
Speaker 1:Because those little nuggets you put in that may seem normal, those are what stand out to people. That's where your 5 star reviews come from. That's where, you know, this person's gonna be running up and down their neighborhood after a hailstorm saying, you gotta give these guys a call. They took care of me. It's it's helping not only that a president kind of train a homeowner to the process because most of them never gone through it.
Speaker 1:It's just connecting with people. And if you're able to connect with people, it makes the lines of communication easier. It makes if there is a hiccup in there, you're calling. And even if they don't like the information you're telling them, you're being visible, you're being upfront, and it normally leads to an easier just process all the way through.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. I think at the foundation of a lot of what you've spoken to already is the personhood behind that interaction. This is so much more than a job or a loss that that needs, a crew to come in regardless of the circumstance. There's a person on both sides of that call, And it's and it's important to recognize that because they deserve to be treated with dignity as someone experiencing a loss and also someone who would go, oh my goodness. If that was happening to me, how would I want someone to respond to me calling in with that information?
Speaker 2:So I think that's so key, so key. And that's a lot of what we're hoping to cover, you know, in in our webinar of it it is. It's it's our in the restoration industry, this is day in, day out. We hear these all the time. But for that person calling in, just like you said, it might be their first interaction with any sort of disaster in their home, and we have to treat them as such and respond as such every single time.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And it's you know, how do you give those clear communication points? But realistically, I mean, sure, you can have a great brand. You can have a great logo. It's really the community it's the community and the interaction you create with the people that make them customers for life.
Speaker 1:It's you know, we can have the greatest looking truck that rolls up, but it's the conversation, you know, I had with Tim or I had with Juan who came out. Those are the ones that I remember. You know, I still get Christmas cards from a, homeowner when I first started in the industry because she had a cool. A, older lady who had a pipe burst on Thanksgiving. Came out, took care of the house, was able to talk to her, and, was able to get the home dried out, and then another pipe burst on Christmas a couple weeks later.
Speaker 2:Oh, no.
Speaker 1:Got on the phone, called me, and I'm like, alright. Stop at McDonald's on the way, and we had McDonald's for Christmas dinner at her house. You know? And it was just it was a terrible situation. You know?
Speaker 1:She had 2 hypers in 2 different areas of the home within a couple weeks. It was an older house. She was an older lady that lived by herself, but at the same token, there was no other phone call she was making. It was right to us. I was there in 20 minutes.
Speaker 1:We were able to get the laws taken care of, but even to this day, I still get that Christmas card from her. And it's just something that you build those relationships with, and it wasn't anything you know, there was no 15 step, this is the greatest sales script on Earth. It's just connecting with someone on an emotional level, and it there she's a client for life, and it's something that didn't take a whole lot of effort. It was just those extra couple minutes of having that conversation and really kind of talking her through the loss and what's gonna happen and almost alleviating that stress of the unknown and really kind of painting that picture.
Speaker 2:Cool. Well, gosh, Paul, I appreciate you just sharing all of that, and and just speaking to the importance of that. Is there anything else you would wanna add?
Speaker 1:Really, in today's day and age, especially if you're a company that's looking to get away from TPA work, looking to grow your own kind of sales and inbound, you know, you have to find ways to separate yourself from the pack, especially if you're in saturated markets. I'm from Central Florida. There's a lot of restoration companies out there. You know, how do you separate yourself from everyone that can show up with a truck? And a lot of the ways of doing it is visibility.
Speaker 1:It's being able to connect to the people, treat them like it's your grandmother's house, and really kind of drive that customer service while also just being clear, honest, and open with exactly what we're doing and how. And even if they don't like the answers you're getting sometime, the fact that you're being honest and transparent with them really goes a long way.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Absolutely. Treat it like it's your grandmother's house, like it's your grandma on the other line. You know? It doesn't really even need a lot of addition to it.
Speaker 2:That's a powerful statement, and a great way to put it. So awesome. Well, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much for sharing a little bit about that. And, obviously, for anyone watching, we are, producing a offering a webinar here, in the next week where we're gonna be talking about this even more diving into what is, what are some of the best practices that we need to look at when we talk about those first interactions.
Speaker 2:And, with the help of of these awesome the awesome crew at Know How, we're gonna be able to offer some takeaway information, for how you can then best apply that into your business as well. So I hope that, anyone listening will be able to join us. And and, Paul, I super appreciate your time this morning.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Yeah. Any way to help, we're always here for. If you're interested in downloading our new book, winning with workers, you can go to winning with workers dot com or go to try know how dot com. Be able to download this for free.
Speaker 2:I feel super special that I have a paper copy. So
Speaker 1:You do. You're 1 of the few.
Speaker 2:I prefer that anyway, so I gotta take notes in all the margins anyways.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Awesome.
Speaker 1:Awesome.
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